


A Time Honored Tradition

by morrezela



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Birthday Presents, Kissing, M/M, Surprise Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-14 22:07:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13599387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morrezela/pseuds/morrezela
Summary: Ignis spends his birthday helping Noctis get ready for a gala.





	A Time Honored Tradition

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Ignoct Week's Day 1 Timed Challenge: Birthday Surprise.
> 
> All mistakes you find are my own.

Ignis was used to all but ignoring his birthday. It wasn’t a bother. His retainer was large enough that he could afford most anything he wanted, and he had never been a lavish spender. He was frugal in the most important ways. He liked chic clothes and good wine. He enjoyed good ingredients in his food, but those expenses most always sat on Noctis’s bill as he inevitably ate whatever his prince did. 

It just made sense to make extra when he cooked for Noctis. Why cook two times for every meal of the day? At least, that was the way Noctis viewed it. As in most things, Ignis eventually gave into Noctis’s will. 

He wondered sometimes if royalty was born with a sort of stubborn persistence. Logically, it had to be a learned behavior. Certainly Noctis’s other princely behaviors had to be learned. Some, Ignis reflected, had to be relearned more than once. 

“Do I have to kiss her?” Noctis whined. 

“You ask that question every year, and every year the answer is the same,” Ignis tutted. “And it isn’t a proper kiss. It is a peck on her knuckles, and she’ll be wearing gloves. It’s nothing.”

“My lips puckering against somebody else seems like kissing,” Noctis argued, “and it doesn’t matter what body part it is. It’s still kissing.”

Ignis sighed as he often did when talking to Noctis. “And it is a time-honored tradition of our nation. It isn’t like you’ll be marrying her. You dance with her once, and then you’ll be free to hid in a corner playing on your phone.”

“Yeah, I don’t have to merry her,” Noctis stressed the last word to its breaking point. 

“Is that what this is about?” Ignis asked. He kept his tone light, inquisitive, and non-judgmental. Noctis only had a handful of months left before he turned twenty. Even if Ignis was the type to forget dates and milestones, he couldn’t possibly forget that one. 

He’d already been orchestrating parts of Noctis’s birthday celebrations, and it was only just the start of February. When Noctis turned 20, there would be great celebration throughout Insomnia. After that, he would need to start taking on serious royal duties. Said duties also included finding a suitable wife. 

There was nothing Ignis could say to assuage Noctis’s feelings on the matter. He would not wish to be put in such a position himself, and he could not lie to Noctis either. Arranged marriages were always awkward to some degree. With Noctis, it was apt to be a catastrophe. Unlike his father, he did not already have his eye on a potential bride. And while Regis had been reserved, his son was awkward. Ignis might even call Noctis shy if it wouldn’t offend him. 

Noctis stayed silent for the longest time before saying, “Forget about it, Specs. It’s not the time to be discussing this.”

He was right, of course, it wasn’t the time to be discussing it. Noctis had to look the best for the gala, and while he was a very attractive person, he was not one to put much effort into his appearance. He rested on his good looks far too often for Ignis’s tastes. 

“Then we shall make time to talk about it later,” Ignis said. While they might not have the time now, they certainly would need to make time in the future. 

“Yeah,” Noctis reluctantly agreed. “Hey, Ignis?”

“Yes?”

“Can you help me out with this cape thingy?” 

“Will you help me out with this caplet,” Ignis corrected as he crossed the room. He didn’t envy Noctis’s traditional garb. He enjoyed being well dressed, but he preferred clean lines and minimalistic accessories. Truth be told, he enjoyed them more on Noctis as well, but that was a thought best kept private. 

As he redid fasteners and corrected crooked pins, he almost missed the feeling of something brushing inside the vest he was wearing. Noctis had fast fingers, but they were not fast enough. “Noct?” he queried. 

Noctis flushed red. “It’s nothing.”

“So you just reached inside my waistcoat for no reason at all?”

Noctis let out a tortured groan. “Nobody calls them waistcoats anymore, Specs.” 

“On the contrary, the term is most fashionable in Tenebrae,” Ignis informed him. 

“Don’t think I’m not going to ask Luna about that,” Noctis said. 

Ignis put a frown on his lips even though he didn’t feel like frowning. “Perhaps you should ask her how to best avoid double negatives as well.” He took a step back to view his handiwork. It was much better. Noctis would be presentable at the start of the gala if nothing else. Ignis held no hope for the end.

“Aren’t you going to look?” Noctis asked after a moment. 

“Do you want me to look? I thought you said it was nothing,” Ignis shot back. But his hand was already fishing inside the satin lining to fetch whatever it was out of his inner pockets. He slid an envelope out. It was a dark red that opened to a gilded lining. Inside were two tickets to the Insomnia Orchestra. 

“Happy birthday, I guess,” Noctis said sheepishly. He hung his head and his bangs fell into his eyes. “I remembered all by myself this year.” 

“You did,” Ignis agreed. He sounded soft even to his own ears, so he cleared his throat to regain some semblance of control. “Although, I do not know who I will find to go with me.” 

“Well, I was thinking we could go together,” Noctis suggested. 

“I thought you didn’t like such music,” Ignis commented. 

Noctis shrugged. “It grows on you.” 

“Ah,” Ignis said, willing the fluttering in his stomach to stop. “I suppose thanks are in order then.”

“Don’t mention it,” Noctis laughed nervously. 

That was odd. Noctis was many things, but actually showing nerves instead of becoming sullen? That was different. “Noct? Is something the matter?”

“No! I, ah, I…” Noctis stopped and ran his fingers through his hair. 

Ignis mourned the loss of carefully tousled locks and debated whether attempting to fix it would only serve to make it worse. Then he wasn’t thinking because Noctis was taking his hand between both of his own. 

Noctis’s hands were warm, smooth and soft skin contrasting with the callouses created in training. Betrayed by his own heart, Ignis could hear little except the thump of blood coursing through his body. He watched dumfounded as Noctis bowed at the same time as he pulled Ignis’s hand upwards. 

Then the most chaste kiss Ignis had ever received was brushed across his knuckles. Even so, he could feel blood rushing to every place on his body that he didn’t want it to go. He was certain his face had turned as red as the sunset that was starting to cross the sky outside. 

“Noct, I…”

Noctis looked up through his lashed from where he was still bent over Ignis’s hand. “It’s a time honored tradition, isn’t it?” he asked in a voice that was far too seductive for Ignis’s tastes. Or perhaps it was just right. 

Breath rushed in past Ignis’s lips as he willed his heart to stop skipping beats. “Indeed.”


End file.
